ONGC to acquire Cairn Energy stakeNew Delhi, September 29
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation today approved a total dividend of Rs 4,277 crore at 300 per cent and announced plans to Cairn Energy Plc’s stake in two oil and gas blocks in Bay of Bengal and Gujarat offshore for about $100 million.

Bank credit in Punjab touches Rs 23,571 crChandigarh, September 29
The gross credit in Punjab has increased by Rs 2683 crore, from Rs 20,888 crore as on June 2002 to Rs 23,571 crore by June 30, 2003 thus exhibiting a growth of 12.8 per cent. While the aggregate deposits of the banks in
Punjab increased from Rs 50,615 crore to Rs 55,748 crore during the same period, said Mr S.S. Kohli, Chairman and Managing Director of the Punjab National Bank here today.

Cotton starts arriving in mandisBathinda, September 29
The cotton crop known as “white gold” has started arriving in the markets of north zone comprising Punjab, Haryana and Sriganganagar circle of Rajasthan and the growers have been fetching remunerative prices of their produce despite the fact that its demand by the traders and textile mills is yet to pick up.

Dalmia Continental to invest 100 cr in FMCGNew Delhi, September 29
Dalmia Continental has drawn out plans to pump in Rs 100 crore over the next five years for its FMCG business comprising of Leonardo — its olive oil-based cooking oil — and other related products.

A
visitor looks at jewellery at the 'Bridal Asia' exhibition in New Delhi on Monday. — PTI

HPCL pays 311.54 cr dividend to govt
New Delhi, September 29
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd has paid Rs 311.54 crore dividend to the government for the last fiscal.
This amount represented 180 per cent towards the final dividend for 2002-03, a company statement said.

Copter travel to be made cheapUdaipur, September 29
The government is examining a host of issues to make travel by helicopters more affordable and widespread in the country, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Rajiv Pratap Rudy has said.

Activists from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), one dressed as an injured chicken, protest outside a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) chain restaurant in Hong Kong on Monday. The protest is part of an international week of action launched by PETA against KFC's treatment of chickens. — Reuters

UCO Bank listing from Oct 1 likely
Kolkata, September 29
UCO Bank’s shares are likely to be listed on the stock exchanges from October 1 next, an official of the bank today said.
The bank had come out with IPO of 20 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each
for cash at premium of Rs 2 per share, aggregating to Rs 240 crore on
September 3 was oversubscribed 19 times, the official said.

Centre clears 15 cases of foreign collaborationNew Delhi, September 29
The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr Arun Jaitley, has approved 15 cases of foreign technology collaboration/franchise agreements based on the recommendations of Project Approval Board. In addition, seven cases of industrial licence have also been approved.

Rs 300 cr for rural
industry
Chandigarh, September 29
A corpus fund of Rs 300 crore has been set up by the government for promoting the rural industry, under which no collateral security will be required for obtaining loans up to Rs 5 lakh.

New Delhi, September 29
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) today approved a total dividend of Rs 4,277 crore at 300 per cent and announced plans to Cairn Energy Plc’s stake in two oil and gas blocks in Bay of Bengal and Gujarat offshore for about $100 million.

“We have reached an understanding with Cairn Energy for buying their stake in the two blocks,” ONGC Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Subir Raha told newspersons here after the Annual General Meeting (AGM).

ONGC will acquire Cairn’s 90 per cent stake in deep sea block KG-DWN-98/2 in the Krishna Godavari Basin, off the Andhra Pradesh coast and 10 to 15 per cent stake in shallow water CB-OS/2 block off the Gujarat coast.

On the other hand, Cairn will also get 15 per cent stake in ONGC’s Ganga Valley block GV-ONN-2000/1 and Cambay basin block CB-ONN-2001/1.

“There is immense mutual benefit for both companies”, Mr Raha said. A formal
announcement of the agreement is expected to be made soon.

Mr Raha also said plans were afoot to enter into collaboration with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).

While BPCL will offer “certain significant opportunities in marketing to ONGC”, ONGC will offer joint participation for bidding in highly-prospective A category oil and gas blocks.

“BPCL will offer incremental and assured product access to sustain our retail market all over the country”, the ONGC CMD said adding the company has made similar offers to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL).

Mr Raha disclosed that the company has also decided to enter the petro-chemicals area to utilise its feedstocks and an agreement has been signed with the Gujarat Industries Development Corporation (GIDC) to this effect. ONGC has decided to set up a Rs 560 crore C-2 and C-3 extraction plant at Dahej special economic zone.

ONGC also approved a dividend of Rs 4,277 crore at 300 per cent for fiscal 2002-03. This includes interim dividend at the rate of 170 per cent. The share of the Central Government from the total dividend is Rs 3,598 crore.

The company has reported a net profit of Rs 10,529.33 crore for fiscal 02-03, which is up 70 per cent, from Rs 6,197.87 crore in the previous year. Its revenue has increased by 53.4 per cent to Rs 34,536.4 crore from Rs 22,514.2 crore.

The company has contributed Rs 12,718 crore to the Centre by way of royalty, cess, duties and taxes, besides Rs 2,786 crore to the state governments as royalty and taxes.

The total contribution from ONGC to the Central Government in 2002-03 is Rs 16,316 crore, up 79 per cent from Rs 9,131 crore in the year-on-year period. The corresponding figure for contribution to the state governments is Rs 3,598 crore, up 114 per cent from Rs 1,679 crore.

Chandigarh, September 29
The gross credit in Punjab has increased by Rs 2683 crore, from Rs 20,888 crore as on June 2002 to Rs 23,571 crore by June 30, 2003 thus exhibiting a growth of 12.8 per cent. While the aggregate deposits of the banks in Punjab increased from Rs 50,615 crore to Rs 55,748 crore during the same period, said Mr S.S. Kohli, Chairman and Managing Director of the Punjab National Bank here today.

Addressing the 85th State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) meeting of Punjab, he claimed that with good monsoon and consequent agriculture recovery, the projected GDP growth for 2003-04 may exceed 6 per cent. The prospects of the economy were bright with real GDP growth expected to shrug off the loss of momentum and set to stage for a surge to full potential.

He said the industrial outlook was optimistic with expectation of fresh investments in existing projects and increase in capacity utilisation. He informed that the priority sector advances of banks in Punjab grew by Rs 2,431 crore from Rs 10,299 crore as on June, 2002 to Rs 12,730 crore by June 30, 2003, registering a growth of 23.6 per cent. Referring to advances to SSI sector during this period, he said that it had registered an increase of Rs 153 crore, from Rs 3,529 crore to Rs 3,682 crore during the same period.

Mr Kohli added that the agricultural advances in the State during the review period witnessed an increase of Rs 1,141 crore, from Rs 4,616 crore as on June 30, 2002 to Rs 5,757 crore as on June 30, 2003, showing a healthy growth of 24.7 per cent.

While welcoming the participants, Mr U.S. Bhargava, General Manager, PNB and Convener, SLBC (Punjab) claimed that coordination of banks with Department of Industries had helped them surpass the targets under Prime Minister Rozgar Yozana (PMRY). As against a target of 9,000 banks had sanctioned loans to 9,667 beneficiaries, and out of which disbursement had been completed in 9,031 cases.

Bathinda, September 29
The cotton crop known as “white gold” has started arriving in the markets of north zone comprising Punjab, Haryana and Sriganganagar circle of Rajasthan and the growers have been fetching remunerative prices of their produce despite the fact that its demand by the traders and textile mills is yet to pick up.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that for the past two to three days, considerable quantity of cotton crop had started arriving in more than 100 markets of north zone. The arrival was expected to pick up near Dasehra festival.

Information revealed that the cotton (Narma variety) had been fetching Rs 2,500 per quintal while the cotton (desi variety) had been fetching Rs 1,900 per quintal. The last year opening price of Narma was Rs 2,000 per quintal while the opening price of desi variety was same. So far about 7,000 cotton bales had arrived in various markets of Punjab.

Cotton traders pointed out that it was for the first time in the past eight years that prices of cotton Narma and desi variety had opened at such a high rates. Except for last year, the prices and production of cotton had been keeping low in the past eight years.

Mr Kapilash Chand Garg, former President, Northern India Cotton Association, pointed out that it was for the first time that traders were expecting that production of cotton would pass 25 lakh bales in the north zone this year as compared to the production of more than 18 lakh bales in the previous year. Apart from it, it was also for the first time that prices of cotton had opened at high rates despite the fact that traders had been expecting a good crop this year.

He said that this time production of more than 25 lakh bales was expected on the basis that pest attack on the cotton remained under control except in few pockets. He added that if the weather remained conducive in this month and coming October, the production would be encouraging.

Mr Niranjan Lal, a leading cotton merchant, pointed out that arrival of cotton had been delayed in the markets due to delay in its sowing. He added that some farmers also resorted to resowing of cotton when the earlier sown cotton plants wilted away due to severe heat conditions at that time. By the end of first week of October, the arrival would pick up considerable and it would be a full swing business of cotton in all the markets.

Initially, the cotton traders and textile mill owners were expecting the cotton production might fall in this zone to considerable extent as area under cotton crop declined to a considerable extent in this season due to unavailability of hybrid and attack resistance seeds and due to severe heat wave condition at the time of sowing. However, favourable weather condition during most of its growth period had raised their hopes for better production of cotton.

Mr Garg pointed out that if the production kept on rising, the Mumbai-based traders and owners of southern states textile mill owners, who used to come here to purchase cotton about seven years ago due to decline in its production, would resurface in the cotton trade and it would be a big boost to the state economy. He said that variation in the prices of cotton mainly depended on its demand in the domestic and international markets and production in India and other cotton producing countries.

New Delhi, September 29
Dalmia Continental has drawn out plans to pump in Rs 100 crore over the next five years for its FMCG business comprising of Leonardo — its olive oil-based cooking oil — and other related products.

“According to research studies at American Heart Association, olive oil has been found to be one of the healthiest oils for heart and blood vessels. Therefore, significantly we have positioned the launch of Leonardo today on the occasion of World Heart Day,” Chairman of Dalmia Continental Pvt Limited, Mr V.N. Dalmia said here today.

He said that the foray into olive oil business is “very strategic and well-orchestrated, specially since Indians are becoming more health-conscious”.

“We have conducted extensive research worldwide that shows that internationally consumers are switching to olive oil as it is considered to be the healthiest cooking medium”, Mr Dalmia said.

Mr Dalmia said that will be positioned as regular day-to-day cooking oil priced at Rs 290 per litre and unveiled across the country in a phased manner. By March 2004, it will be available all across the country.

“Besides this we have identified other related business areas in the FMCG sector which is poised to grow in future,” Mr Dalmia said.

The other related products will include olive based balsonic vinegar, sundried tomatoes and olive fruit.

The company had already paid 20 per cent interim dividend of Rs 34.61 crore in February 2003.

The government currently holds 51.01 per cent of the equity capital in HPCL. It registered the highest ever turnover of more than Rs 50,000 crore in the last fiscal which stood at Rs 52,615 crore.

The company recorded the highest ever refining output at 12.93 million metric tonnes (MMTs) and highest ever sales volume at 18.84 MMTs. HPCL posted its highest ever market growth in sales at 4 per cent during the last fiscal as against the industry growth of 1.4 per cent.

In 2002-03, it also recorded the highest ever net profit of Rs 1,537 crore and its net worth stood at Rs 6,678 crore. The dividend payout for HPCL in 2002-03, including the dividend tax, stood at Rs 756.92 crore. —
PTI

Udaipur, September 29
The government is examining a host of issues to make travel by helicopters more affordable and widespread in the country, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Rajiv Pratap Rudy has said.

To begin with, there will be separate norms for big aircraft and helicopter operations. Also, aspects like forming different air corridors for choppers and reducing passenger tax to the level of airlines will be looked into.

The current regulations do not distinguish among landing procedures for a Boeing 747, a turbo prop or a helicopter, Mr Rudy said. If a helicopter had to land in busy airports like Delhi and Mumbai, it had to wait for permission in queue with the bigger planes. However, its endurance and fuel capacity was much less and, therefore it needed to be treated differently.

This would require a proper regulatory framework in place, Mr Rudy said while talking to reporters here over the weekend. A four-member committee, headed by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), had been set up to examine the issues in detail, he said —
UNI

New Delhi, September 29
The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr Arun Jaitley, has approved 15 cases of foreign technology collaboration/franchise agreements based on the recommendations of Project Approval Board (PAB). In addition, seven cases of industrial licence have also been approved.

The government has approved technical collaboration agreement between Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited and Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan, for the manufacture of new model multi-purpose vehicle.

The Centre has also approved technical collaboration agreement between Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts Private Limited and Toyota Motor Corporation for the engine assembly for the new model multi-purpose vehicle to be launched by Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited.

Another proposal approved by the government was that of the manufacture of LPG/CNG-powered three-wheeled vehicle by Piaggio Vehicles in collaboration with Piaggion and C. Spa of Italy.

Chandigarh, September 29
A corpus fund of Rs 300 crore has been set up by the government for promoting the rural industry, under which no collateral security will be required for obtaining loans up to Rs 5 lakh.

Stating this while inaugurating a vermicompost unit at Gulabgarh village near Dera Bassi today, Minister of State for Agro and Rural Industries Sangpriya Gautam expressed the need for encouraging organic composting, which is environment friendly and healthy.

He said waste management through vermiculture and composting required about 40 days as compared to nearly 10 months required for the traditional method of producing farm manure. Such projects also helped to clean the environment and generated employment at the local level. —
TNS

Cremica Foods
Jalandhar, September 29
The Cremica Foods, in collaboration with the National Finishing and Cookery Institute, organised a cookery contest here today. As many as 100 students participated in the sandwich making and salad making contests. Mr Jatinder Thakur, in charge of the cookery department in the Food and Craft Institute, Chandigarh was the chief guest. Sunita stood first in the sandwich making contest while Vinay in the salad making contest. —TNS

A. R. SharmaChandigarh, September 29
Mr A. R. Sharma, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of A.P. Solvent Ltd, Dhuri, was vice-president of the Solvent Extractors Association of India at its annual general body meeting at Mumbai on September 20, a statement issued by Mr B.V. Mehta, Executive Director of the association, said. —
TNS

Aquafina
Chandigarh, September 29
Pepsi today entered a new business segment with the launch of Aquafina Bulk Water. Pepsi unveiled its premium quality international bottled water brand. Aquafina 25-litre packs, initially in Hyderabad. Aquafina 25 litre meets stringent international and national standards for water purity benchmarked. —
TNS

Spice offer
Chandigarh, September 29
Spice Telecom, today announced the Lucky Dedications Offer. Under this unique contest, any subscriber who dedicates a ringtone, by dialing 570, to any mobile or landline anywhere in India, can win gift vouchers from Nike and Planet M worth more than Rs 5,000 every day. Besides every call made to 570 will get included in the mega draw at the end of the contest. —
TNS

Gopal Bhushan
Chandigarh, September 29
Mr Gopal Bhushan Gupta (Ludhiana) has been elected as the President of the Roller Flour Millers Federation of India — the apex body representing over 900 mills throughout the country. —
TNS

Sunrise Sports
Chandigarh, September 29
The Sunrise Sports (India) Pvt Ltd, the importer and promoter of Yonex, has launched a new series of badminton racquets. It includes two models namely Armortee 500 and Armortee 700 with Hybrid Metal Graphite Shaft and an ultra Hybrid Metal Graphite with gForce Ti frame. —
TNS